When I look back on my professional journey today, I see a story full of unexpected twists and turns, the courage to embrace challenges, and a commitment to continuous learning. My 30-year career in IT and my specialization in SAP Industry Solutions for Utilities (SAP IS-U)—solutions for industrial customers, which I’ve been working on for 25 years—wasn’t clearly mapped out from the start. Quite the opposite. It emerged from decisions that weren’t even my first dream at the beginning.
At the end of 8th grade at the elementary school in Strážske in 1985, I was facing an important life decision. My dream was to study fashion design at a technical school specializing in clothing. Creativity, dress patterns, design, and working with fabrics fascinated me. However, fate had other plans.
I wasn’t accepted into my dream school, the fashion design program, due to a lack of space, but I received an offer to enroll in the electrical engineering program at the technical school in Michalovce.
It wasn’t a path I would have chosen for myself. Nevertheless, I accepted it. And it was precisely this decision that proved to be pivotal for my future.
Studying at SPŠE showed me that I’m a technical person. It taught me systematic thinking, discipline, and the ability to solve technical problems. In an environment that was predominantly male at the time, I gradually built my self-confidence and found my place as a woman.
Although I initially felt that I was outside my comfort zone, over time I realized that this was where I was gaining a solid foundation for my future career.
Building on this foundation, I naturally went on to study at the Technical University of Košice, where I earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, specializing in High-Voltage Electrical Equipment, between 1989 and 1994.
This period was not only academically important for me, but also personally formative. It was here that I met my future husband, a student of artificial intelligence who today serves as Delivery Unit Head at GlobalLogic Slovakia.
The combination of technical thinking and an innovative view of the world that we both shared became a natural part of our life together, and while building our careers and our life together, we also raised two wonderful children of whom I am immensely proud.
Our son Števko, now a 32-year-old successful young man, chose a career in aviation and became a commercial pilot for various types of Boeing aircraft. He currently works as a captain at DHL and, according to available information, is one of the youngest captains in the company’s history.
Our daughter Janka, now a talented 28-year-old young woman who decided to follow in my professional footsteps, has been successfully working as an SAP IS-U consultant for four years now and proves that a passion for technology and systematic work can also be a family legacy.
My first real-world experience in the IT field came after my first maternity leave, when I took a position as a database network administrator at the National Labor Office. It was my first professional experience where I could fully utilize my technical knowledge while continuing to grow in the rapidly evolving field of IT.
After two years, however, I decided to prioritize my family again and took my second maternity leave. We spent this 3.5-year period as a family in the U.S., where my husband was working. Despite my maternal responsibilities, I made the most of this time—I focused on improving my English and simultaneously expanded my professional knowledge by studying technical subjects at Henry Ford Community
College. This step was important to me not only in terms of professional growth but also for building personal confidence in an international environment.
After returning to Slovakia in 2001, I did not go back to my previous job. I received an offer from my former classmates at their IT company to replace a colleague who was leaving and began working as an SAP IS-U Billing and Invoicing consultant. It was a challenge that fundamentally shaped the direction of my career, and one I accepted with some trepidation.
I worked for them as an employee until 2008, but then I decided to take the next step, and in March 2009 I started working as a freelancer. This decision also required courage—not just professional courage, but personal courage as well. Today, however, I know it was the right move, one that brought me freedom, new opportunities, and the chance to shape my own career according to my own vision.
My professional journey began as a woman in IT in 1996, and gradually evolved toward information technology. Since 2001, my path has led exclusively toward specialization in SAP IS-U—a solution designed for energy and utility companies. This field opened the door for me to the world of complex systems, data models, and processes that have a real impact on everyday life.
Over the course of 25 years, I have worked my way up to become a senior SAP IS-U BIIN consultant, and I have had the opportunity to work on numerous projects with clients in the energy sector, water, heating, gas, and government sectors, where I collaborated with various teams—both from the client and the competition—for both domestic and international markets, constantly expanding my knowledge.
Each project presented a new challenge and, at the same time, an opportunity for professional growth. The pilot projects and full-cycle IS-U implementations were particularly interesting, as were the euro conversion projects for utilities in Slovakia and Croatia.
As a woman in IT, I have often faced stereotypes, but I never saw them as an obstacle—rather, as motivation and even an advantage.
I believe that diversity in technical fields is the key to innovation and better solutions. I am proud that I can still be a part of this field and contribute through my work.
Today, after 25 years of working with SAP IS-U, I can say that the journey that began as a stopgap solution has become my life’s mission. What once seemed like a disappointment was, in fact, the beginning of something extraordinary.
I may not design dresses and models from fabric, but I do design and implement process models using software and billing algorithms, and here, too, I can utilize the creativity and dynamism that are essential to my work.
My story is proof that we don’t always have to follow a plan exactly to find our path. Sometimes the most important opportunities come unexpectedly. You just have to accept them.
And that is where the real strength lies—not just for women in IT.
Ing. Jana Daňová Lacková
